Thursday, 28 August 2014

The first preview at my second fabric collection with Art Gallery fabrics is finally here.
And I can not be more excited to be able to share it with you!!!
This collection should have been previewed during the last, Spring Quilt Market, but it was wisely decided to hold on and concentrate on launching Indelible, my debut collection, and save this one for later ;)
And I think that it was the great decision, as it would be too much on my plate at once. And I still didn't have the way to get any of my knits and voiles, so hopefully I will be able to play a bit with them before the advanced yardage of Recollection will appear.
Let me tell you a bit more about this collection, like I did with my first one.
And if you follow that previous link, you will discover and recognize many of the elements used in the Recollection .....like on this following picture.

As you can see, this leads back to 2008 and my first attempts to recollect inspiration, color story and create patterns for my fabric collection (named "Doily" back than).
And on the following pictures (fabrics printed through Spoonflower) you may be able even to recognize some of the artwork used in the Recollection.

Of course, the colors are changed and a bit even the designs, but this kind of ethnic appeal and elements were always very close to my heart.
I have always been attracted to doilies, laces and other vintage lovelies. I enjoy using them in artwork and like to contrast them with modern elements and materials in order to create something that embodies both fresh and vintage.

Also, doilies hold a special place in Serbian tradition and culture, such as in traditional costumes which utilize various kinds of lace embellishments. I was also inspired by kilims, which are the gorgeous shapes and patterns of Pirot, the southern part of Serbia.Kilims are very geometric in form and in combination with floral lacy motifs and shapes create the perfect harmony for my “Recollection” line. Culturally and historically, kilims are also used in very intricate needlepoint tapestries with beautiful roses. These have also inspired me to design some of the prints.

Additionally, with this line, I’ve tried to somehow evoke the old, fundamental textile techniques from rug weaving, tapestry, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, ikat.....something that through the centuries was passed from generation to the generation, recollected - becoming a legacy or heritage that made our history and a history of the modern craftwork.

I must say that what helped with the textile techniques inspiration, were my classes during the first year of my PhD. I had the pleasure to be introduced to some of these techniques by my professor and hers assistant at the Faculty of Applied Arts and to learn a bit about the process of loom weaving.

When it was time to give to the collection the final name, I stumbled upon this quote by Waler Benjamin (one of the most influential contributions to aesthetic theory of the last century) and that was it!

So here are the two colorways: the first is "Deep winterwoven" and the second, the lighter one is called "Mist moderknittie".

Which one do you like more?
Would love to hear your thoughts,
with love,
Katarina

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

I got a few e-mails about the kids kaftan version that could be seen a lot in my last post. I know that the post was about our summer vacation in Greece, but apparently I was more interested in posting pics of my kids in theirs Indelible clothes, which is so truth-can't blame me for that :)

I took the advantage of the beautiful Greek scenery in order to get some nice pics that could inspire you more! So if you haven't tried my
kaftan tutorial, you definitely have to!!!
It's beginner friendly and sews very easy!! I did the kids version with the regular quilting poplin cotton, which is great for apparel sewing and the width of the fabric will work just fine for kids. The voile is even better, because of the drape and weight of the fabric, and for adults, it's a must because of the width of the fabric. For the kids version, I did the round-boat neck, instead of the V-neck, and was much easier to sew.Another interesting note-option about the tutorial: instead of making the button holes and drawstrings, you can apply one or two rows of
shirring (with elastic thread)at the front and back of the kaftan. For shirring you can read some tips here.

And please, if you are making it, be sure to add your photos in my flickr group, so that I can see them :)
xo,
Katarina

Anyway, as I have written already a lot about this beautiful island on this blog, I will not be adding anything more, so you can eventually go to the previously written posts to read and see more about:

I am sure that, if all will be fine, we will be going there again next year, and until then I will be dreaming about Skopelos, trying to capture it's magnetism and beauty in some of my next fabric collections ;)
xo,
Katarina